


Trouble and Temptation

by Savageseraph



Category: Haven - Fandom
Genre: Anger, Angst, Blow Jobs, Boats and Ships, Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt, First Kiss, First Time, Friendship, Frottage, M/M, Regret, Rivalry, Smuggling, Teenagers, Underage Drinking, Young, Yuletide 2012, secret meetings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-21
Updated: 2012-12-21
Packaged: 2017-11-21 20:19:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/601679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Savageseraph/pseuds/Savageseraph
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even when he was young, Nathan knew Duke Crocker was trouble, and if he was being honest, that was exactly what drew him to the other boy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trouble and Temptation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [smallearthcat (vamplover82)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/vamplover82/gifts).



> Written for **smallearthcat (vamplover82)** in the 2012 Yuletide Exchange.

Even when he was young, Nathan knew Duke Crocker was trouble, and if he was being honest, that was exactly what drew him to the other boy. That and his boat. Now, boats were common in Haven. Folks used them for fishing and trapping, for running people and supplies back and forth to islands across the reach, for taking tourists on trips along the coast. Nathan grew up around boats, and even though his family didn’t have one, he knew the Crocker boat was special.

There were days Nathan would climb one of the pines in the park near the docks and let the tree’s feathery needles hide him as he watched father and son working on their boat. No matter how much they scraped and scrubbed, it never seemed to improve in appearance. What Nathan could never figure out was how the Crockers took the boat out fairly often but they never seemed to have fish to sell at the market, and it certainly wasn’t attractive enough to tempt any of the summer people to hire it for an excursion. 

Each time the boat left port, Nathan wondered where it was heading and what Duke and his father did when they reached their destination. He thought it would be exceptionally cool if the Crockers turned out to pirates or treasure hunters who scoured the sea floor for sunken gold. If sleepy, boring Haven had secrets.

Maybe if he made friends with Duke, Nathan would get a chance to check out the boat up close, see if there were any hidden stashes of gold and pearls inside. Maybe he could even get Duke to let him go out with them one time when they cast off from port. Nathan smiled at the thought, eagerly leaning out too far than was strictly prudent on the branches, only pulling back when he felt them dip under his weight. The Chief wouldn’t approve if he took a tumble out of the tree. He certainly wouldn’t approve of pirates or of wanting to make friends with them. Especially with “those damned Crockers.”

Nathan frowned as he realized his daydream had no chance of coming true. No one wanted to do anything even remotely wicked when The Chief’s son was around. Haven was always going to be dull, and he was never going to have any real fun.

###

Duke knew Nathan Wuornos was trouble. Not the sort of trouble he was accustomed to, the sort that meant trips to the principal’s office for putting live crabs in Penny Nichols’ backpack or long lectures from The Chief when he thought Duke might have helped himself to some free candy at the Millers’ store. No, Nathan was a whole other kind of trouble, and that interested Duke. Of course, it didn’t hurt that he knew his dad and Old Man Wuornos didn’t get along. His father never would talk about why, but Duke figured that if both he and Nathan were like their dads, getting to know Nathan better would give him the answer.

A part of Duke felt sorry for Nathan. Sometimes when the Chief had the chance to lecture Duke about proper behavior, which happened far too often for Duke’s taste, he’d catch a glimpse of Nathan lurking somewhere not entirely out of sight. Duke wondered if Nathan was sloppy, stupid, or just too stubborn to hide well. Maybe he wanted Duke to know that he was watching. Maybe he wished he had the nerve to pull whichever prank had landed Duke in trouble. 

It had to be terrible being the Chief’s kid, always having to be good. Always having to do the right thing. Kids ran away from home because of that. Duke was certain he would if he were in Nathan’s place.

###

Nathan was surprised when Duke dared him to ride home from school with him. It was a miserable day, rain falling in chilly, grey sheets, and he was so turtled up in his rain jacket he didn’t notice the car crawling along next to him right away. Despite the miserable weather and his long walk, Nathan hesitated at the offer. He wasn’t certain that the car would actually make it home or that Duke knew how to drive. He was certain that Duke wasn’t driving legally and even more certain The Chief wouldn’t approve of him going anywhere with a Crocker. In the end, that’s what had Nathan reaching for the car door and sprawling inside on a seat that was as much vinyl as it was duct tape. Duke’s driving was about as good as Nathan expected (which is to say reckless and inconsistent), and he was both grateful and disappointed when the ride ended without them being pulled over or ending up in an accident.

Maybe Nathan passed a test that day, because Duke talked to him more at school and even asked him to hang out together in the afternoons. Nathan finally got invited onto the Crockers’ boat, but of course, he was old enough that he didn’t believe in pirates or sunken treasure off the coast of Haven. However, he felt a little like one when he and Duke snuck out to a small grotto on the coast to drink beer Duke borrowed from his father. Duke insisted that his dad would never miss it, and that it wasn’t stealing if you took something from someone in your family.

From the way Duke tipped his head back, muscles of his throat working as he swallowed, Nathan was certain this wasn’t the first alcohol Duke had “borrowed.” Nathan sipped more cautiously, letting the warmth of the alcohol move through him in a soft hum. He closed his eyes, licked his lips.

“Let me show you something really good.”

Nathan’s eyes opened, surprised at how close Duke’s face was to his. Duke grinned, his smile wicked as he leaned closer and brushed his lips across Nathan’s as he rested a palm firmly over Nathan’s fly. When Nathan gasped, Duke licked at his lips, tongue slipping between them to rub against Nathan’s. Nathan’s cock hardened as he pressed up into Duke’s touch.

More than the drinking or running around with Duke, Nathan was certain that his father wouldn’t approve of this, and he couldn’t care less. Duke’s touch, his mouth, were headier than the beer, which tasted much better when mixed with Duke. Duke never bothered to undo Nathan’s jeans. Not that he had to. The pressure and friction as he rubbed against Nathan’s fly, the wicked thrusts of his tongue into Nathan’s mouth, were more than enough to make him come in his pants.

Nathan flushed a little as his sticky clothes clung to him. He knew Duke had to be able to feel it, and he felt his stomach clench in anticipation of a sly joke. But Duke never stopped kissing him. He took Nathan’s hand, put it on his fly, and held it against him as he rocked into his touch. A thrill of satisfied delight ran through him when he finally felt Duke shudder and come.

Even after, all Duke did was tug him outside and toward the surf to wash off. Nathan was glad Duke didn’t fall back on a joke, because he wanted this to be something to be enjoyed and savored, not regretted.

###

Duke was surprised Nathan kept coming out to the grotto to meet him and even more surprised he kept asking him. He supposed he was more than a little addicted to the pleading sounds Nathan made when he was half-wild with need, the way he threw himself into whatever Duke suggested with a reckless abandon Duke suspected (and was delighted to discover) he possessed. Sure, Duke could have done without the sand turning up in uncomfortable places or the shell shards that scored lines in his skin, but having Nathan naked more than compensated for those minor inconveniences.

There was a great deal Duke was willing to excuse or forgive when it came to Nathan. The first time Nathan took him in his mouth, sucking him off with artless abandon, Duke was willing to do anything to feel that on him again. He’d had women more skilled at it than Nathan, but none were ever so eager. Even though he’d dreamed about fucking Nathan for weeks before the other boy asked for it, he was unprepared for how deliciously tight and shameless Nathan was, how he had to hold Nathan down to keep him still, how the soft sounds Nathan made broke over him in waves that were part pleasure, part pain.

It didn’t take long for Duke to decide that he wanted Nathan more than any of the girls he’d been dallying with before they started. He’d cut back to the point that he was only seeing Cathy Peeler in order to keep up appearances. Because no matter how much the time he spent with Nathan might have started out as youthful rebellion and experimentation, Duke had no doubt it moved beyond that, and he didn’t want any word getting back to their fathers that anything might be going on between them.

He could imagine what The Chief--hell, what his own father--would do if they were found out, and that made every single thing he did with Nathan even better.

###

Nathan blamed Duke for his Trouble, when he didn’t blame himself. He should have known better, after all. Secret meetings didn’t mean anything more than opportunities to fuck and feel. Nothing more. It isn’t as if that made the two of them friends. Nathan didn’t learn that lesson until he came across Duke and Cathy Peeler behind the bleachers in the stadium one afternoon. Duke was fucking her with as much—if not more—enthusiasm than he spent on Nathan and telling her how beautiful she was, how much he loved her. Nathan wasn’t sure who he hated more at that moment: Duke, Cathy, or himself.

That night, Nathan tossed and turned in bed until he was sweated and tangled in his sheets. He wished that he’d never had Duke, wished that fucking him didn’t feel so good, that he never felt it at all, because then he wouldn’t miss it. Or Duke. The next morning, Nathan couldn’t feel anything. He never went back to the cave, never told Duke what he’d seen or explained why the only things he was willing to give Duke were suspicion and stiff indifference. 

One day, he did come close to telling Duke everything as he beat the hell out of him after a fight that landed both of them in detention. Nathan wanted to keep hitting Duke even after two teachers pulled them apart because Duke had the nerve to look like he was the one who’d been hurt.

###

Duke didn’t blame Nathan for his Trouble. His father always told him, “Trouble follows a Crocker, boy. Better get used to it.” That was partly why Duke always felt obligated to chase down trouble before it could corner him. Of course, things didn’t work out quite that way when Dwight attacked him and triggered his Trouble. If Nathan had been the one who sent Dwight to clean up the inconvenience he’d become, at least Duke could have hated him for that. Things never quite worked out how you wanted or expected.

The hot rush of power that swept through Duke when Dwight’s blood touched him was intense and more than a little erotic. He felt so much: a flash of pleasure so bright it tightened his body even as it silvered his eyes. Even when Duke used it to kill, it still felt just as delicious. Still left the same tingling afterglow in its wake. Duke wondered if that was what tempted his family to keep using it. He wondered if the regret his father felt at killing mellowed, faded, got washed away in the sweet rush of power. 

Being Troubled didn’t do much to help his relationship with Nathan. No, Nathan made it vey clear that sharing this didn’t mean they were on the same team. In fact, Duke suspected it was just the opposite. A cop and a man whose Trouble was to kill Troubles and their bearers weren’t about to be easy allies. 

Duke often wondered what it would have been like if Nathan had been the first one to spill his Troubled blood across Duke’s skin. Would it have felt better than Dwight’s? Would it have made Duke stronger? Made him hard? He suspected it would have done both.

###

Nathan wished he could trust Duke the way Audrey did, the way he used to before that day in the stadium. He realized he had issues with trust and with forgiving people who hurt him, especially if they were people he loved. He wished he didn’t feel the old tug of care and concern when Beatrice’s Trouble nearly killed Duke by aging him to an early death. He wished he had been able to tell Duke that he hated him when Duke had asked. Most of all, Nathan wished he could have pulled Duke close, told him that he never stopped wanting him.

###

Duke wished Nathan would trust him the way Audrey did. He realized he had some issues with credibility, mostly thanks to his own antics, but he tried not to let people down if he could help it, especially when it came to the people he loved. He wished he could find a way to say that to Nathan without falling back on humor to hedge the sting of any hurt from being rejected. He wished Nathan could feel, just long enough for him to land one solid punch, something to make up for the pain Nathan’s biting insults caused him. Most of all, Duke wished he was the one crouched over Nathan when Moira’s Trouble called him back from the dead, so that he could have pulled Nathan close, told him that he never stopped wanting him. 


End file.
